Amazon: horrible to work for, apparently

Everyone thinks their job is the worst or, indeed, that they're hard and able to deal with anything. That's what adults do when they're not being competitive about how tired they are or denying how much they actually drink in a week.

Well, one set of workers who are apparently having a rough time of it are at Amazon, according to an investigation.

Over 100 staff were interviewed about what it is like to work for the internet behemoth, and it has been said that workers are regularly doing 80 hour weeks and can be found sobbing at their desks. Either way, Amazon have a problem with how they're working their staff, or they've got a recruitment problem where they keep hiring people with problems.

It was also claimed that bosses randomly sack people to keep workers on their toes, and that the staff toilets have a button in them so people don't waste time in there.

Former marketing executive Bo Olson said: "You walk out of a conference room and you’ll see a grown man covering his face. Nearly every person I worked with I saw cry at their desk."

The investigation also stated that Amazon are "conducting a little-known experiment in how far it can push white-collar workers, redrawing the boundaries of what is acceptable."

This particular investigation focused on the Seattle HQ of Amazon, and a spokesperson for the company declined to comment. That's not to say they all kept quiet. Nick Ciubotariu from Amazon's Search Experience department, blogged that some of the claims were "completely false" and accused the New York Times, who ran the investigation, of writing "reader bait".